twiddle

"It's July 2023. Building out the leadership of that operation today, so they can sit around and twiddle their thumbs for the next six months would be nuts," he said.

From Reuters ● Jul. 18, 2023

“Don’t wear a necklace if you’re tempted to twiddle it,” advised the paper.

From The Guardian ● Sep. 19, 2020

When Perry began his formal prayer, Trump assumed a posture of piety — eyes closed, bowed head, clasped hands — but began to twiddle his thumbs and briefly opened his eyes.

From New York Times ● Oct. 29, 2019

Michael Connelly’s detective is never one to twiddle thumbs, of course.

From Salon ● Apr. 13, 2019

When he heard her coming, he would lay aside his work, lean back, and twiddle his thumbs.

From "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham

For his part, Adam twiddles his own curly locks with one raised hand, seemingly in nervous anticipation.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 18, 2024

Liberated from chronology and fact, the comedy-drama twiddles the timeline of Catherine’s career and marriage.

From New York Times ● Dec. 26, 2021

“We can’t afford to allow more devastation to be caused to the park while the Park Service twiddles their thumbs trying to come up with an expensive plan,” Gosar said in a statement this week.

From Washington Times ● Feb. 26, 2016

Eye blinks, finger twiddles, fidgeting — there’s no detail too small for the timer to add to the exposure sheet, ensuring the team in LA maximum control over what the South Korean animation studio delivers.

From The Verge ● Oct. 25, 2015

It twiddles along for a minute through the air and lands on the brown ottoman, which enrages my mother because it didn’t fall fast enough or land hard enough.

From "Landscape with Invisible Hand" by M.T. Anderson

You could follow the text at the bottom of the screen, but most people just twiddled their thumbs and waited.

From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2025

There was a woman in a leather hat complaining that she had been treated rudely by a county worker, a man watching while he twiddled a Rubik’s Cube.

From New York Times ● Nov. 5, 2022

They all largely twiddled their thumbs as accusations mounted that much was unhealthy in the GET-THIN campaign.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 17, 2021

Attempting to locate one of the rarest animals on the planet, US government scientist Joe Madison pointed an antiquated VHF tracking antenna at a tangle of thick vegetation and twiddled some dials on the receiver.

From The Guardian ● Mar. 7, 2019

Charles’s mom coyly twiddled her fingertips against her cheek.

From "Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics" by Chris Grabenstein

“It’s not like we’re twiddling our thumbs and trying to get some money. This is a very serious condition,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 14, 2026

Meanwhile Miami, which had been ranked behind Notre Dame, and like the Irish, had been inactive and twiddling thumbs over conference championship weekend, vaulted over South Bend.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 8, 2025

The court granted cert to the case on Wednesday, after twiddling its thumbs for 16 days, and it scheduled oral arguments for April 22.

From Slate ● Mar. 2, 2024

"After coming out of Eurovision, it meant I wasn't twiddling my thumbs. I had a whole album to promote so we had to keep going".

From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2023

And no use just sitting there twiddling his thumbs till they needed him to hand up powder.

From "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham